This year's Super Bowl was one of the most-watched ever

The Super Bowl ratings game may From left, Beyonce,
Coldplay, and Bruno Mars performing in the Super Bowl 50 halftime
show.CBS

be a tighter competition than the actual game.

In Nielsen's early overnight numbers, Sunday's Super Bowl
50 averaged a 49.0 household rating/73 share in the 56
metered markets across the country for CBS, according to Variety.

The game's ratings peaked with a 51.0/73 for the final 15
minutes (10-10:15 p.m. ET).

Separated by mere decimal points, this year's game the
third-most watched game in history. It averaged 111.9
million total viewers, peaking with 115.5 million from 8:30-9
p.m. ET for the halftime show.

That means last year’s Super Bowl with 114.4 million
total viewers and 2014's big game with 112.2 million hold on the
first and second-highest ratings for the game,
respectively.

As far as CBS's hope to introduce its late-show lineup to
new viewers after the show, it seemed to have worked. Nielsen
reported that the “Late Show withStephenColbert" averaged 21.12
million total viewers, 8.4 million in the 25-to-54-year-old
demographic. And the "Late Late Show
with James Corden" averaged 4.97 million viewers, 2
million in the 25-to-54-year-old demo.